Wrong Way Renee (10 page)

“Yes
?
”

“The food is ready to serve. I've carved the turkey and the pies are cooling on the counter. If there's nothing else, I thought I'd go home now.
”
She clasped her hands behind her back.

“Sure, hon. Go on now. Have a nice meal with your family.
”
Elizabeth faced her guests.
“Lourdes tells me dinner is ready. Would everyone please
follow me to the dining room?”

Gary Junior and Alyssa ran ahead of the adults, practically knocking
Luther
over.
“Slow down there, kids. Renee, honey, did you see
Cleave
's car out front? Isn't it a beauty?
”
he
asked.

God, was her father in on this too?
“Yes, it's very nice.”

They all sat at the table, making sure
Cleave
was
next to Renee. She felt like she was in a play where she was not only the main character, but the only one who didn't know the plot.
Her dad
said a sort of prayer about being thankful then they all started passing platters around and chatting.

“I hear you own a beauty salon. Do you enjoy that?
”
Cleave
asked
her
.

“I do. I love most of my clients.
It's great being my own boss.”

“Oh, so you actually work there?
Elizabeth didn't tell me that.”

She
looke
d at her
mother
, who appeared deep in conversation with
Char
.
“I'm sure
she didn’t. I think it embarrasses her.”

“Why would it? You're obviously a hard wo
rker with a head for business.”

She glanced around the table. Gary and
Luther
were having a heated discussion, probably about work. Gary Junior and Alyssa were dueling with turkey wings.
“I guess because she was the only daughter of a
black
lawyer
in the days when there were so few of them
.
Then she married one.
She never had to work a day in her life. When I didn't get married right after college, like my sister did,
Mama
had a fit. I really
got on her shit list
when I quit before law school. To her, working at a salon puts me in the same category with Lourdes—a service person. She's a bit of a snob, if
you haven't figured that out.”

He shrugged.
“She's been nothing but
charming to me
.”

That's because you're not related to her.

“
By the way,
I think they're trying to fix us up.
”

He snickered.
“I hope you're not embarrassed. I'm sure no one
meant to put you on the spot.”

She touched his hand.
“I'm fine. I'm enjoying your conversation much more than
I would my family's, trust me.”

“
Renee,” Char interrupted. “
Gary and I are going on a cruise in May. Remember I to
ld you I wanted to go to Alaska
? Well, I booked it. Isn't that exciting?
Mama
said she'd keep the kids if you could help her a little
.”

Renee
glared at her mother
, who rolled her eyes.

“They'll be in school or daycare five of the seven days. If you could take them on the
Sunday, I can keep my sanity.”

Renee stabbed a piece of turkey with her fork
in effigy
.
“Thanks for volunteering me,
Mama
.
”
She flared her nostrils.
Great.
The mere thought of babysitting her niece and nephew would give her indigestion.

“They're really easy
,
”
Gary said.
“You'll see.”

“How would you know, Gary? You're rarely home.
”
She regretted the comment as soon as it was out.

“Gary is a wonderful father, Renee.
”
Char
placed her hand over her husband's.

“I'm sorry. I'm just not much good with kids,
”
Renee mumbled.

Elizabeth coughed.
“That's because they're not your own, honey. Renee wants children,
Cleave
.”

“
Mama
, could you be any more obvious?
”
This was beyond humiliating. She imagined herself on an auction block.

“This one has great, wide childbearing hips,
”
the auctioneer would boom as he trained his pointer on her thick hips.

Elizabeth's head snapped back.

Cleave
cleared his throat.
“Can I get you anot
her drink from the bar, Renee?”

“No, thanks. I'm going to take a little walk before dessert.
”
She pushed away from the table.

“Mind if I join you?
”
Cleave stood.

“That would be great. Let's go.”
She stuck out her chin, ignoring her
mother
's scowl.

They left through the kitchen door, making their way down to the lake. Two ducks sat on the grassy shore near a wooden double swing. A third floated nearby.

“Want to swing?
”
she asked when they neared the lake.
“I love sitting here listening t
o the water lap at the beach.”

“H
ow can I refuse such an offer?”

As they sat, the swing creaked under their weight. “I guess I should apologize to Gary when we go back inside. I shouldn't have said that about him never being home. It's not true. I suppose he and
Char
struck a deal long ago that her job would be to raise the kids, his would be to earn a living. It
seems to be working for them.”

“Gary's a great guy. He's quite devo
ted to your sister. True blue.”

“Yeah, he is. Sometimes he comes off a bit goofy, but he's got a heart of gold.
”
She turned around when she heard the backdoor slam. Gary Junior and Alyssa darted past them to the swing set across the yard.

Cleave draped his arm over the back of the seat.
“So what do you like to do when you're not working at your salon?
”

Gary Junior push Alyssa on a swing. He got on the one next to hers and stood up on it.
“Don't fall, Gary,
”
she called to him.
“Let's see. I love to shop. It
's my all time favorite hobby.”

“Sounds expensive.”

“I’
m quite the bargain hunter. But I must admit I carr
y a bit of debt because of it.”

“What do you like to shop for?”

“Clothes, antiques. I have a real w
eakness for antique furniture.”

“Really? I just bought a house. It's only a mile or so from here. I'm trying to furnish it with some antiques, but I don't know exactly what to buy. Do you think w
e could go antiquing sometime?”

“Sure, I'd love that. There's a big antique center about an hour north of town, n
ear Mount Dora. Have you been?”

“No, wh
en can we go?”

Sh
e studied his face. He wasn't bad looking. He had a gentle smile an
d kind eyes. Sort of attractive. F
or a lawyer.
So her mother had set her up. She could hardly fault Cleave for that. And it wasn’t as if her dance card was all full. “How about Sunday?”

“It's a date. What's your number? I'll program you in.
”
He pulled his cell off his belt and hit a few buttons, waiting for her to speak.

“You're programming me in? I think you're moving way too fast for me.
”
She hid her grin behind her hand.

The smile disappeared from his face. He put his phone down on the seat.

“I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I'll give it
to you.”

Relief softened his features.
“
Oh, okay.”

She told him her number.

A few minutes later they walked back to the house. The adults were still in the dining room eating pumpkin pie and drinking coffee. Elizabeth stood when they came in.
“Can I get you two some of Lourdes' famo
us pumpkin pie? It's the best.”

Renee
studied
her
mother
to see if she was angry that they'd left the table before everyone was finished. Luckily, she saw no trace of animosity.
“Sure,
Mama
.”

Cleave
nodded.

“Gary, I'm
sorry about what I said before.
”
Sh
e touched his shoulder as she passed.

He gave her hand a squeeze.
“Don't worry about it. Did y'all have a nice walk?
”

“We just went to the swing.
But
yeah, we had fun
.” She smiled at Cleave.

After dessert,
Char
and Renee volunteered to clean up while the others honored the time-honored tradition of rubbing their bellies and watching college football.

“So?
”
Char
said when they were alone.
“What do you think?”

“About what?
”
Renee dried a platter her sister had just washed.
“I think this i
s a pretty platter, don't you?”

“Renee
!
”
Char
's pink rubber-gloved hands flew to her slim hips.
“You know what I'm talking about. What do you think of
Cleave
? It's obvious he likes you.”

“I think you're right. You know, you remind me more and more of
Mama
every day.
”
She wasn't about to tell
Char
anything. Knowledge is power, her father liked to say.

“You are infuriating. Why won't you tell me anything?
”

“He's very nice. That's all I'm gonna say.
”
She loved pissing her sister off. Her sister, who had everything in the world, wasn't going to know some juicy little piece of gossip. And it would eat at her.

Char
huffed, then went back to loading the dishwasher.
“Gary and Dad said he'll be a full partner in a few years if he keeps doing as well as he has been.
”
She stopped what she was doing to turn toward her younger sister.
“W
ouldn't your life be easier if you married someone like
Cleave
and didn't have to work or anything? Wouldn't th
at make you happy? It does me.”

“In itself, that wouldn't make me happy.
”
Sh
e put the platter in the cabinet over the pantry.
“I want to find
someone who knocks my socks off
. Someone who makes a lot
of money or has some fancy car—
that stuff just doesn't matter to me. Yeah, it would be great not to have women's feet in my face every day, but I like my job, most days. I guess the white picket fence thing isn't important to me like it is to you…and to
Mama
. At least not for right now.
”

But as she said it, she wondered if that were really true. It would be nice to be taken care of, not to have to worry about things like money. God knew she wasn't any good at managing her finances.

“You're not
getting any younger, you know.”

She
bristled.
“Thanks for pointin
g that out to me, sister dear.”

“I'll tell you something. This wasn't
Mama
's idea, or mine.
”
She pursed her lips and raised her brows like she was holding back the location of Jimmy Hoffa's corpse.

“Daddy?”

Char
shook her head.

“Gary?”

“Nope. It was
Cleave
himself. Daddy said
Cleave
saw that picture of you he has in his office and started asking questions. Told Daddy he'd like to meet you sometime. That's how he scored this invitation.
”
She folded her arms, obviously pleased with herself
for setting the record straight
.